NEW YORK (AP) – Visa Inc said its adjusted third-quarter profits rose by nearly double digits, as the global payments company continues to benefit from the broad shift by consumers to using credit and debit cards instead of cash.
The company said on Tuesday that it earned a profit of USD4.2 billion, or USD2 a share, in its fiscal third quarter compared with a profit of USD3.4 billion, or USD1.60 a share, in the same period a year earlier.
Last year’s results included a USD456 million legal expense. Excluding that one-time cost, Visa’s adjusted profits rose seven per cent from a year earlier.
Visa said its payments volume rose nine per cent from a year earlier, while the number of processed transactions on Visa’s network increased 10 per cent from a year earlier.
Visa gets a fee from merchants and businesses who use its payment network to process transactions, so Visa’s profits rise and fall with the global economy as well as customers choosing to use a Visa card over its competition or cash.
